


It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman! Nope...ITS A GODDAMN DRAGON!

by Jikan



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Justice League & Justice League Unlimited (Cartoons), Justice League - All Media Types
Genre: Bat Family, Batlantern - Freeform, Bruce Wayne is a Good Dad, Don't mess with a Dragon's family, Dragon A/U, Justice League without Batman, Meeting the Bat Family, Multi, Protective Bruce Wayne
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-03-27
Packaged: 2019-04-05 01:28:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14033196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jikan/pseuds/Jikan
Summary: An alternative universe where the Justice League has never met Batman, instead they get a Batdragon and the rest of the family.





	1. Beware the Creature of the Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “He had only heard of dragons, and although he had never seen one, he was sure they existed.” — Dee Marie

In the midst of a foggy Gotham night, the Arkham guards still didn’t know what they were looking at. That had to be saying something since they’ve seen all the crazies coming through the asylum doors and nothing should be surprising them anymore, but here it was. Slapping them in the face, figuratively of course. It was a quiet night, unusual for Gotham, but then the sound of air whooshing by alerted them and of course the unmistakable laughing of the madman himself, the Joker. At first sight of the giant beast that landed with the clown, the guards took aim though unsure if their bullets would even penetrate the creatures hide. Folding the massive wings it turned it’s bright blue eyes towards them and held out the giggling maniac to them, dangling him from pointed claws and giving a grumble as if annoyed by the laughter. 

“Oh, Batsy not going to save me for your midnight snack?!” the Joker laughed flailing around in its grip though seemingly at ease before the dragon that was waiting patiently for the guards to come and secure the Joker, “I taste delicious, such a delectable treat just for you!” he exclaimed while making a heart shape with his hands. He in turn was just held further away from the beast as if it was disgusted at the thought of preying on people.

The first guard brave enough to inch forwards soon gave the rest encouragement that the dragon wasn’t going to snack on their bones and they quickly scurried forwards to secure the green-haired man in a straight-jacket before dragging him away from trying to get the beast to devour him, “Don’t starve while I’m gone! It won’t be long till I escape to come feed you! I’ll dip myself in barbecue sauce, whatever you prefer my cute batty Batsy!” 

The second the Arkham guards secured the Joker, the creature took off to the skies, it’s black hide quickly blending in to the dark skies of Gotham and disappearing from sight. Before the security guards could move back to their posts, a flurry of vans screeched to a halt in front of the gates and an army of reporters flocked towards them with questions; the photographers readying their cameras and scouting around for a glimpse of the newly discovered protector of Gotham.

This was the third criminal drop off at Arkham Asylum, two of which was the Joker, that the dragon had done so far. There were speculations that there were more as both here and the police station had criminals dropped off, some of them were found by patrols, unconscious thieves and potential rapists adorning street lamps around the city. A couple of mob gangs had gotten busted as well, unconscious bodies found in a dumpster that had somehow been carried from where they originally were at and placed right in front of the police department headquarters. That was a sight for Commissioner Jim Gordon as some of the mafia members began weeping for joy once they woke up in a cell rather than the stomach of the Bat. 

Journalist were having a field day with all the stories, “GOTHAM’S GIANT BAT PREYING ON CRIMINALS,” and, ”GOTHAM CITY’S CREATURE OF THE NIGHT,” were some of the headlines that flashed across the Gotham Gazette. New witnesses were providing some information on what they had dubbed The Bat, due to it’s rather large bat-wings, but it still manages to avoid the reporters and getting it’s picture taken. With many stories relying on what witnesses encountered, which wasn’t much due to the swiftness of all the criminal round-ups, many citizens from Gotham and cities near by didn’t fully believe in the rumors. No one knew where the Bat came from nor where it disappeared to at night but it never seemed to stray too far from Gotham.

The first time couple times the Justice League tried finding the so-called dragon, they came up empty handed, not a single breath of existence. Instead they received a message to the watchtower, untraceable and only stating, “Stay out of Gotham.” This warning was dismissed though it ruffled the main founders of how the sender could possibly be the giant beast.

“It could possibly have the ability to transform into a human,” Green Arrow speculated crossing his arms.

“Or someone else is controlling it,” Wonder Woman added.

“Have you been able to make contact with the Bat, J’onzz?” Superman asked turning to the Martian. 

“No, nothing,” J’onzz said, “It’s intelligence may be greater than we believe if it did send the message,” looking at the main screen where the warning glared at them.

“Well, I don’t know about you guys,” Green Lantern stretching his arms above his head before standing, “But, Flash and I are going to hit the streets of Gotham tonight and see if we can find the great terrifying lizard.” 

“We are?!” Flash gaped at his friend pausing in his consumption of his extra large bag of chips. “Flash, my man it’ll be fine. We’ve taken down some of the hardest criminals in the galaxy, how difficult could it be to find some giant weird lizard-bat thing and capture it?” Green Lantern laughed in response. The rest of the founders giving a sigh at Lantern’s boasting. “Call us if you need help, we’ll be there if you need it,” Superman finally stated sternly before giving a nod of his approval. 

“Yeah, yeah big blue,” Lantern waved as he and Flash made their way to the transportation tubes, ready to take on whatever Gotham decided to throw at them.


	2. A Small Threat?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It simply isn’t an adventure worth telling if there aren’t any dragons.” —J.R.R. Tolkien

When both Hal Jordan and Wally West teleported down to one of Gotham City’s warehouse rooftop they set out to find some unlucky mafia members, one of the Bat’s favorite targets. “Are you sure this is the right way to go about this?” Wally asked as they sped over the industrial district, plenty of old abandoned building fit for a hideout lurking near by. “Have a little faith in your pal,” Hal shot back searching for any sign of a potential target before a little figure caught his eye. Hal had almost missed the movement, only a small glint of dull yellow flashed by before melding with the shadows once more.

He dropped down onto the rooftop, dimming his green glow as Flash sped up the building to where he was, “What’s up? Did you see it,” Wally gasped looking at night sky in search of the Bat. 

“No, there’s someone over there,” Hal said squinting his eyes to see if he could spot the figure once more, “C’mon, time’s a wasting,” he took off towards the sighting knowing Wally would be able to keep up. 

A stinging pain suddenly flashed across the right side of his cheek, “What the,” his fingers coming away with blood, then he quickly made a shield as a glinting object was hurtled towards him. The object was a sharp bat-shaped metal boomerang once he got a look at it stuck in his glowing shield, “What the fuck?”

“You okay GL? Flash shouted to him from the ground below before giving a slight shriek as a dark figure had launched itself at the red-clad speedster from out of nowhere. 

“Flash!” Hal shouted quickly zooming down, he tried to grab the little figure but it danced out of the way before he could apprehend their attacker. Both jumping away they turned to fight but what stood in their way before them gave them a shock. A child, a tiny boy dwarfed by both heroes stood armed with a katana strapped to his back and more of those bat boomerang things in his hand. A domino mask was on his face, clothed in red top with a yellow “R” on the left side and a dull gold belt adorned his waist, the black cape around his shoulders had a dull yellow interior which was what Hal had glimpsed. 

Before either could say anything the boy flung his pointy boomerangs towards Hal and then a bola out of nowhere at Flash. The speedster was still shocked at who his attacker was his feet got tripped up in the cords and fell to ground when he tried to dodge out of the way at the last second.

The fighter pilot had just about enough of pointy objects trying to kill him and his best friend. Finally a giant glowing hand reached out and grabbed the child, pining his arms to his side, legs kicking in protest. 

“UNHAND ME YOU ABOMINABLE NEON PRIMATE,” shouted the kid squirming around, giving them the meanest glare he could muster, “ONCE I FREE MYSELF YOUR PITIFUL LIVES WILL BE OVER!”

“Kid, kid, calm down! Don’t make me conjure up a muzzle, cause I will!” Hal shouted back before he and Wally looked at each other with the same thought, the kid’s fucking nuts!

“I AM NOT A CHILD! Try to muzzle me and I’ll cut your tongue out! Now, I demand that you release me or I’ll bring suffering ten times worse than it was before!” the boy spat kicking his feet to no avail.

“Uh, look kid,” Flash now free from the cords, tried before covering his ears as the boy once again shouted that he wasn’t a kid, “Okay, okay then, what’s your name?”

“Tch, you incompetent fools will never get any information out of me!” the child was starting to turn red with exertion, trying his best to escape from the grip of the gigantic green hand.

Hal was so close to tearing out his own hair while trying to get answers from this little demon when all of a sudden instead of the boy a black creature, the size of a golden retriever though definitely less cuddly, was glaring at him from it’s restraints. He almost got his head blown off when it opened it’s mouth and a blueish-purple ball of flames flew out singing part of his uniform; a small explosion went off when it hit the ground behind him.

Flash sped towards it quickly wrapping the bola around its mouth, it gave a growl shaking it’s head in an attempt to remove it. Hal increased the strength of his light before quickly contacting the watchtower, “J’onzz we caught the dragon! We need transport now!” he shouted before putting all his concentration in trying to contain the newly shifted dragon.

A flash of light surrounded them before disappearing once more, leaving them in the middle of the watchtower, surrounded by the remaining members who were still lingering in the watchtower instead of Earth. 

The dragon lashed out it’s tail knocking Hal to the ground and causing his neon hand to disappear but before it could move a muscle, both Superman and Wonder Woman had it pinned to the ground.

“It’s a lot smaller than what was stated in the papers,” Superman said as the small dragon wiggled around, wings trying to flap beneath the two, “Can you communicate with it J’onzz?”

“It’s actually communicating rather loudly,” the Martian Manhunter said with a wince, “It’s all threats to your well-being.”

Hal gave a snort, that sounded like the child, dragon or not still a brat inside.

“Shall we slay it?” Shining Knight said drawing his sword which caused the dragon to give another one of it’s growls, chest rumbling and pupils constricting like a cat's. Vigilante and Huntress already had their weapons out aimed at the angry creature.

Flash shouted over the commotion, “We can't kill it! He's just a child!” Lantern nodding in agreement with his friend. 

"He?" Huntress asked raising an eyebrow.

"Surprise! It's a boy," Green Lantern said giving another snort of laughter before saying seriously, "It really was a child before."

“Then we need to move him somewhere more secure while we try and figure out what to do with him,” Superman said trying to find a middle ground.

“We may have a sedative to calm the child down in the Medical Bay,” J’onzz added with a grimace on his face. Hal felt a bit sorry for the green-skinned alien, listening to the demon child was bad enough for him to hear out loud but having him shout directly into his head was not something he wanted to experience. 

“Or we could take him off your hands for you…” a voice said causing all the heroes to spin towards it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's another chapter folks! Thank you for all the kudos and comments so far


	3. The First of the Bat's Brood

A trio of males stared back at them, unflinching at the sudden attention they were given. “Or… we could just leave him here, teach the brat a lesson from wandering off,” muttered the one with a red helmet concealing his identity, a dark brown leather jacket was worn over the black kevlar suit, but what stood out was the red bat across his chest.

The smallest of the two was dressed similarly like how the dragon-boy was before with a domino mask and cape except his uniform had no yellow, just a mix of red and black across. He shocked the league when his hand raised up and smacked the one with the helmet, “He would kill us if we just left him here.”

“Ha, I’d like to see the little demon try,” red helmet shot back with a shove and Hal was pretty sure he rolled his eyes as well judging from the tone.

“Not little-bat you moron, B.” the smaller hissed back throwing an elbow to the ribs.

Before the two managed could exchange any more blows that were getting harder with each hit, the one that had spoken earlier, pulled them away from each other with a sigh, “Children, can we not do this now. We have a little lost birdie to get home before you-know-what.”

He in turn also had on a domino mask and was dressed in black kevlar but instead of another bat there was a blue bird with it’s wings extending over his shoulders on his chest. The two taller ones were definitely not in their teens, the smaller had to be about 17. Hal also noticed his fast friend sporting a blush that could have rivaled his own hair, but just which one caught his fancy was the question. He’d tease him about it later.

Blue Bird looked back at the league, “So anyways, we’d really like to get going and if you’d be so kind just hand him back over….”

“Who are you and how’d you get up here? The Watchtower can only be accessed by members,” Superman asked crossing his arms and looking like a disapproving parent. He pulled it off quiet well.

“Well, I guess you deserve some introductions since we’ve intruded, just to be polite” the oldest raven-haired male said with a bit of a pause giving the two a shared look, “I’m Nightwing. This is Red Hood and Red Robin. And that little fellow over there is Robin.”

They all looked at the snarling dragon with a questionable look at the name of such a tiny and non-threatening bird. They had to be joking.

“And we’ve been hacking into your network for a while now, so accessing the transporters was a piece of cake,” Red Robin added with a small smug smile.

The watchtower was buzzing with the thought of someone being able to intercept the watchtower computer systems. Hal almost gave a whistle of surprise, Ollie was going to lose his head when he hears about the security breaches. Some parts of the tower was made with Queen Industries technology, along with the Kyrptonian and Martian devices being integrated into it as well.

“How do we know we can trust you? What are your intentions?” Wonder Woman questioned once the the clamor began to die down.

“Look lady, Mr. Glow Stick and Fast Pants over there are the ones who kidnapped him in the first place. We’re just here to take him back, nothing more,” Red Hood said taking a few steps towards where Robin lay, pinned beneath the two supers.

Wonder Woman raised an eyebrow at the tone.

“Hey, that’s not right! We are just trying to figure out what the Bat is trying to accomplish in Gotham!” Flash blurted out pointing a finger at the tiny dragon and shaking his head in denial of them being kidnappers.

Laughter met them as the trio looked at the dragon Flash was pointing to with a bewildered look on their faces, “You guys really need to do some research and get your facts straight,” Red Robin chuckled as the other two were still too busy laughing to answer why they thought this was hilarious.

“What will you do with the child once you take him?” J’onzz asked trying direct their attention back to the situation on hand.

“Tuck him into bed and read him a bedtime story,” Red Hood deadpanned, snapping out of his laughing fit, “Oh shut it brat, it’ll be your fucking punishment,” he growled back when another rumble came out from the tiny creature. They all raised an eyebrow at that.

Suddenly the dragon went still and all three raised their hands up to one of their ears, shooting each other a startled look before looking back at the league suddenly serious, “Okay, we will be leaving now. No more questions,” Nightwing quipped strolling forwards and motioning with his hand for them to release Robin.

“I’m sorry but we can’t do that. We need to take all precautions to make sure he doesn’t attack any civilians,” Superman stated trying to reason with the three.

“Hey, hey we understand your uncertainty of the situation but we really need to get going. You have our word that nothing will happen, you won’t hear a peep out of us as long as you stay out of Gotham,” Nightwing tried to reassure them.

“J’onzz, what do you think,” Hal input, emphasizing on the word think, though it was not needed as their Martian friend was telepathic. Everyone turning to hear what the green-skinned man had to say.

“…I haven’t received any ill intentions, other than what the child has been promising to do since he’s been up here,” he finally stated giving Robin a considering look.

_Dear god_ , Hal thought with a slight grimace, _just what on earth has that kid been saying if the telepathic alien who’s entire race was wiped out has the audacity to look that disturbed_.

“Great, we’ve gotten your unneeded approval. Can we leave now?” Red Hood said impatiently, Red Robin nodding in agreement while his foot tapped at an alarming rate.

Wonder Woman glanced at the Man of Steel, waiting to hear the final decision come from the Leagues leader.

“Who’s in charge of Gotham and why do we need to stay out of the city?” Superman finally asked, still unsure about releasing the elusive Bat that they had been searching for.

“Holy fuck boy scout! What is this? 20 questions?” Red Hood groaned. Nightwing opened his mouth to speak but before he could; “Um guys, take a look at the monitors,” Flash said worriedly.

There up on the screens was a slate grey screen with the same bat symbol in the center, this time in black. Before anyone could question it the monitors all flickered intermittently on and off like the Tower was haunted before they all turned black and stark white text appeared.


	4. The Warning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Dragons don’t bother with introductions.” — Robin Hobb

[Return to Gotham NOW] was blinking in stark white letters across the black screens of all the monitors in the Watchtower. “Fucking hell! You said he wouldn’t notice!” Red Hood shouted giving Nightwing a punch on the arm.

“Ouch! Hey, that was uncalled for! And for the record, trying to recover a dragon from the Justice League isn’t as easy as you might have thought!” the black and blue clad male argued back with his own retaliating fist.

“Damn it, why is it my turn to be the adult now?” Red Robin sighed looking at up as if he expected an answer to drop down from whatever great deity was watching above, “Guys, seriously? We kinda have something bigger to attend to.” Wiggling his way between the two and pushing them apart, a hand on each chest in order to separate the fighting duo.

The two older males scoffed and looked away from each other.

“Who’s accessing the Watchtower?” Superman asked giving the trio another famous stern look before the next message came through and he blurted out after doing a double-take, “What in the world?!”

[It’s none of your business, Kent] the message read before disappearing.

“J’onzz, can you get rid of the hacker?” Big Blue asked, now concerned that whoever had slipped through the Tower’s security system apparently had knowledge about their identities and who knows what else.

The Martian was already at the main computer, quickly typing away and clicking around the screen, “I can try. It may take a while.”

[Don’t bother. Everyone’s security access has been downgraded. I have full control of the Tower. Once the four are returned to Gotham unharmed, I will reset your access to its original status]

“Great, well I think that settles it. We’ll be going now,” Nightwing stated rather happily.

“How can we trust your words?!” Wonder Woman exclaimed at the monitors half tempted to use her lasso on one of the men to get some answers. As much as it pained her, she refrained from doing such actions as their anonymous assailant was currently holding the Watchtower hostage.   
  
[Your trust is unneeded. The transporters are ready for your departure, Nightwing]

With that the coordinates for the outskirts of the city were magically plugged into the transporters computer, ready to go at a moments notice. The two holding Robin down finally released him, who in turn sprang forwards on all fours, wings unfolding as he stretched them from where they were trapped, giving his captors a rather disgruntled look.

Now released from being held down, the League finally got a good look at the lean and agile feline-like creature. The similar bat-wings were folded back neatly against it’s body, keeping them out of the way. Another set of much smaller wings were spread out slightly attached to where the tail began from the spine complete with a long tail with angular fins at the end. On his head he had a long pair of possible ear-like appendages that twitched and another set of shorter ones just below them. Instead of fur, his skin had a slight glint to it, allowing just enough definition to see a different texture, similar to a sharks.

Plate like frills were flared out around his throat and the sides of his jaw; his lips curled into a snarl revealing sharp dagger like teeth and elongated canines. Leaping rather gracefully over to the trio, his frills flared out once more as he gave the League another one of his looks of annoyance.

“Nice doing business with you,” Red Hood gave a mocking two-fingered salute as they all stepped into the blue ring where the transporter lit up and sent them down, leaving behind a vexed Justice League.

[Stay out of Gotham] was the final message that came through before all the monitors flickered and reset to their original screen setting. “Our status has been returned to its original security status and everyone is back online,” J’onzz said checking to see if was promised actually came through, “I’ll try to see if our hacker left anything behind that we can track them with.”

The Last Son of Krypton gave a small defeated sigh before turning to the rest of the League, “Pass the word, for now the League stays out of Gotham until further notice. We need more information first.”

“I can chat with Question about our little bat problem. I’ll see if he’s gotten any leads or information,” Huntress informed them. She had gotten quite close with the face-less man which was a relief for many of the heroes, as Question had someone to direct his attention to. Maybe they could finally purchase some Girl Scout Cookies in peace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the kind words so far! It's a bit of a short update but I hope it will satisfy you all for now before the next chapter! I really enjoyed watching How to Train Your Dragon from Dreamworks and fell in love with the design for the Nightfury! You'll be sure to see the design an inspiration for how Bruce and Damien are though the body is more like a large big cat! Think panther!! I'll be trying to find quotes about dragons for each chapter but we'll see if I run out.


End file.
